Jared Allen blasts NFL decision on Looney hit

The NFL ruled on Tuesday that Joe Looney's hit on Vikings defensive tackle Kevin Williams was legal and that the San Francisco backup lineman won't be punished.

Vikings defensive end Jared Allen became irate when informed of that news after practice.

"That's absurd to me," he said. "That's absolutely absurd. He had a perfect opportunity to hit him in the chest. He could have taken that block up high. But he intentionally went to his knee. We want to talk about protecting player safety and all that stuff. If he hits Kevin in the chest and something happens, that's part of it. But when you intentionally duck and go to a guy's knee? You talk about player safety and wanting to protect us, how is Kevin not a defenseless player? So for me that's absolutely absurd. It's just not what you do."

Allen believes the league has a double standard and that a defensive player would have been fined if the roles were reversed.

"If a defensive player would have hit an offensive lineman in the knee like that on an interception, they're going to call it, right?" he said. "Just because he wasn't going back toward his own end zone they say it's not the peel-back rule. But the intent was to take his knee out. He could have hit him right in the chest and no one would have said anything. But when you intentionally duck and put your helmet or put your shoulder pad into a guy's knee, in my place there's no room for that."

"I have a problem when we talk about player safety in this league and we have a clear case of a guy intentionally trying to hurt a guy and we do nothing about and we pat him on the back and say it's OK," Allen said.

"It's bad enough we have to deal with an offensive lineman can engage us and an adjacent offensive lineman can chop our legs," Allen said. "It's bad enough that we have to deal with a motioning tight end coming in in a pass rush situation. We're focused on the tackle and they can take our ears out. I'm just saying, be consistent. How was [Williams] not a defensive player? You go back and look at that play and you tell me he's not a defenseless player. He has no idea that that guy is there and the dude could have taken him up high. He could have taken him in the chest and he chose to duck down and hit him in his knee. Yeah, you can say I'm a little upset about it."

"If you get hurt in the course of a game and it's a block, it happens. But to intentionally take someone's knee out is just dirty."

Allen was fined $21,000 last season after hitting Chicago's Lance Louis during an interception return. Allen's blindside hit resulted in Louis tearing his ACL.

"They said I launched into him," Allen said. "I didn't go in their with the intent of taking his knee out. Imagine what the fine wouild have been if I would have knifed his knee. I got fined something hefty because they said I launched. They said he was a defenseless player. I took it. But I had no ill intent. My problem with this play is the intent. He ducked down to hit him in the knee. If the league can't see that, they can fine me for this. It's absurd."

Matt Vensel is in his first year at the Star Tribune after covering the Ravens for the Baltimore Sun for six years. He is a Pittsburgh native and a Penn State grad. Follow him at @mattvensel.

Mark Craig has covered the NFL for 23 years, and the Vikings since 2003 for the Star Tribune. He is one of 44 Pro Football Hall of Fame selectors. Follow him at @markcraignfl.

Master Tesfatsion is the Star Tribune’s digital Vikings writer. He is a 2013 graduate of Arizona State and worked for mlb.com before arriving in Minneapolis. Follow him at @masterstrib.